As a kid I used to daydream, a lot, and that is where I would say my artistic journey began, before I ever thought of the brush and canvas. The urge to create and to change made me restless. The desire to understand and to transform pushed me to do something. That something, at some point, became art.

Art wasn’t my first channel. I began with words, blogging and writing to reflect aspirations and struggles within and around me. Through poetry and prose, I sought to weave a narrative that I felt could improve something. I felt I had to.

Photography followed. I started to travel to northern Syria during the war. In Idlib, Aleppo, and Raqq, with a black-and-white lens, I wanted to capture stories of people fighting to be heard, and enduring immeasurable pain. These were more than portraits, they were quiet testaments to life, inviting the viewer to fill the in-between with their own empathy.

As my path led me to new shores when I became a political asylee in the United States, the question of belonging persisted. What does "home" mean now? With art, I began to explore the fluidity of identities and the shapes of change.

Inspired by the harmonic Sufi whirling dervishes, and abrupt changes in history, I found liberation in the movement of paint. Each move became a conversation, a dance between control and surrender. I found myself using layers of textures and mediums built upon each other, mirroring the complexity of my own experiences, and life.

In my first solo exhibit, I transformed the gallery into a living space, inviting viewers to step into my thoughts and emotions. Paintings and poetry intertwined, inviting dialogues about human struggles and the transformative power of art. For me it was a rebirth, a rediscovery of my existence, echoing the courage I found in those first acts of defiance.

Abstract expressionism became my sanctuary, an experience related to philosophies of artists like Gorky and Mitchell. They, too, sought refuge in the boundless language of abstraction, their stories resonating with my own displacement and search for meaning.

My journey continues, fueled by a desire to make art an agent of change. I explore diverse styles, drawing inspiration from Persian miniatures, Arabic calligraphy, and Islamic geometry. Through art, I seek to bridge cultural divides and transcend the restrictions imposed by conflict, censorship, and the authority of society. Only through art one could ask all the questions and seek all answers, knowing that we will never find them.